Spring 2004

Unmarried couples remain a relative rarity in Massachusetts, according to the 2000 US Census. Of the 1.33 million households headed by self-described couples, only 130,919 are headed by unmarried partners. Among those living together without benefit of marriage are 7,943 gay male couples and 9,156 lesbian couples. Not surprisingly, Provincetown is the least matrimonial community(...)

Editor’s note: This article has been updated since the print (and pdf) version went to press. When the Pulitzer Prizes were announced April 5, the folks on Morrissey Boulevard had reason to be disappointed. Neither of The Boston Globe’s two finalists came away with journalism’s top prize in their categories. There’s no shame in that.(...)

No Child Left Behind? The Politics and Practice of School AccountabilityPaul E. Peterson and Martin R. West, editorsWashington, DC, Brookings Institution Press, 340 pages. In January 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which elevated to federal law an approach to systemic educational reform–high standards, regular assessment, and real accountability–that had been(...)

Earlier this year, when President Bush proposed his budget for fiscal 2005, it surprised no one that the administration’s spending plan was denounced by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank traditionally concerned with the effects of federal spending –and especially the lack thereof–on the poor. More of a surprise was(...)

DEVENS–Leslie Doolittle and Eric Edwards loved their townhouse the day they moved there in May 2002, but within a year they were ready for something bigger. They looked no further than just down the street, choosing one of the red brick Colonials that had housed officers and their families on the former Fort Devens military(...)

There is a public safety crisis in Massachusetts, a crisis of our own making. The quality of our workforce is not what it should be, and it’s our own fault. At a time when public safety depends more than ever on a professional, educated workforce, the Commonwealth operates under a set of archaic rules that(...)

Swan song for the twilight moth? State wildlife officials are singing the blues over the Twilight Moth, believed to be near extinction in Massachusetts. They’re proposing to add the moth, last seen near the former Devens army base, to the list of endangered species in the state, along with the Precious Underwing Moth and the(...)

We may be tucked away in West Cambridge, but Sky & Telescope is the oldest, most successful consumer astronomy magazine on the planet! But surprisingly, there was no mention of S&T in your wonderful article about the state of magazine publishing in Boston (“Short shelf life,” CW, Winter ’04). Since 1940, S&T has been a(...)

Massachusetts became a kinder and gentler state during the 1990s, at least according to the United Way of America’s State of Caring Index, which was updated last December and includes 35 indicators–from the percentage of citizens living below the poverty level to voter turnout for presidential elections. The Bay State jumped from 18th to fifth(...)

On the issue of economic inequality, Americans are of two minds. On the one hand, we value opportunity over security, balancing a meager safety net (compared with other developed countries) with the promise of upward mobility for those with ability, gumption, and tolerance for hard work. The idea of opportunity itself suggests variability of outcomes,(...)